CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY
Cummins backs children’s charity Ardoch is an Australian children’s education charity that focuses on supporting disadvantaged children and the belief that every child’s potential should be fully realised through full participation in education. Ardoch closely aligns with Cummins’ own corporate responsibility strategy pillars of education and equality of opportunity. Over the past few years, Cummins has developed its partnership with Ardoch through sponsorship and employee engagement. Despite a challenging year for community engagement, Ardoch delivered myriad in-person and online programs to support learning for 20,253 school students across Australia. Above and below: Students from Cranbourne West Primary School experience virtual reality during a Dream City excursion.
Numeracy Buddies matched students with workplace volunteers to collaboratively solve maths problems through an online blog. Student maths skills were enhanced through verbalising key concepts and understanding how maths can be applied in different jobs and workplaces. Interaction with a positive working role model encouraged students to build aspirations. The program was a fantastic opportunity for collaboration between school students and Cummins volunteers, including a virtual school visit at the end of the program that students and volunteers alike found very rewarding.
Cummins had the privilege to provide support for Ardoch’s Numeracy Buddies, Broadening Horizons – STEM, and Robotics programs, which were delivered to five schools identified by the Australian Government as being disadvantaged. Robotic Tech Boxes supported 200 students and gave four teachers opportunities for professional development. The program develops coding, engineering and problem-solving skills through implementing age-appropriate robotics kits and tech boxes. Teamwork and collaboration skills were developed, alongside an understanding of how student-developed solutions and existing information systems can meet common needs.
Thank you to Suan and Claire for organising and guiding the team at Cummins Scoresby through the Numeracy Buddies program in 2021. The program was a resounding success despite the challenging circumstances faced. Your persistence with managing the program and nudging the teams as and when blogs were due was greatly appreciated. The session this morning was fantastic – Zoe and Bec did an amazing job, they kept the crowd engaged and energy levels high. Christian Almeida | Finance Transformation Champion
A survey found 89% of students said they sought help from teachers, volunteers or friends during robotics lessons and 66% of teachers said the most impactful part of the robotics program was using equipment they had not used before.
Team Talk – powering your voices across Cummins Asia Pacific
JUNE 2022 27
